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Salai's fall
Read more about angels *Back to the main story Chapter One: 'The Fall' Salai was one of the protectors of heaven, the angels of mercy and justice. He once was as the others; pure and true. He could speak no lies, hold no grudges, feel no hate. He was loved, even. Many knew him in Aria, many more heard of him, and even the books of Terra spoke of him at times, a word in a line of thousands, but spoke of him nonetheless. He was strong, as was his mind, and spoke it when he felt it to be necessary. He fought in the war against the overlords, was scarred by it, but it gained him the rank of Seraph, one tier above the 'soldiers' among angels. It was a great honor, but as an angel, he did not feel proud of it. He merely thought of it as what he had worked for, and for the greater good. It was also then that the goddess created a brother for Salai, called Sariel. Salai took this new angel into his home and taught him everything he knew, wanted the young angel to grow strong and be adored as he was. Sariel learned fast, just as Salai wished, but after a while Salai could not help but feel a knot in his stomach, something changing. He threw it away, wanting to have nothing to do with the feeling, as he was busy protecting the heavens and his brother. The bond between them grew every day, and many times they both smiled, and so did the goddess. For the goddess knew Salai was easily succumbed to feelings, and wanted him to grow strong against those feelings, so she had created a brother, someone to love. Years later, Sariel became a Seraph too. Sariel had worried much before what the angels call 'taking the test', but Salai had pushed him to do his best, he knew Sariel wouldn’t fail. Hoped he wouldn’t. Told him he wouldn’t. But deep inside, Salai was jealous. He had failed, thrice, and only became Seraph after having seen his comrades slain by demon lords and fiend spawn. That horrific vision had gained him his rank, and now his younger brother, who had seen nothing but light and purity, was to be one of the greater angels. Envy grew within Salai, and he did not like this. So Salai set upon a new goal: to become an archangel. Only seven archangels existed at that moment, three among them known far and wide; Gabriel, Raphael and Michael. When he would become an archangel, the angels and people below would love him again, adore him again, instead of praising his younger brother on his courage and wellbeing. They would see how grand Salai was, how mighty and pure. They would call his name, praise him... And with that thought Salai went to the second war, the battle of Terra. Without the people of Terra knowing, somehow demons plotted together to 'regain' Terra, as they had called it. But the gods of light disagreed, and they set the angels to battle. Salai and his angelic blade called retribution fared to war, knowing that if he made a stand, saved Terra and survived again, not even his Goddess could withhold his claim as archangel. And so the battle began. It was not pretty, as one of stories would think battles go. It was messy, bloody, deadly. A scenery that make the gods weep. Salai stood amidst, blood on his armor, his halo shining bright and his sword in hand. And he saw it, the enemy's leader: Rivith. The demon looked Grande, but different from the rest. He was calm, his eyes not bloodshot from the need from pain of others, his gestures mild and withholding. But Salai only saw a demon, only saw evil and wanted to purge it to become an archangel for sure. A smile on his face, Salai strode towards the demon, when a comrade too decided to test his luck on the source of evil. Salai, without thinking over it twice, without even taking his eyes from Rivith, sliced his blade through the angel. None shall stand between Salai and his target. None shall interfere. Salai was struck by greed. It was to be his, his prize, his trophy, his honor, his glory. None to share, none shall take it. And so Salai slew a number of his kind in his race towards Rivith, a stern look upon his face, turning into a snarl when his other comrades noticed his betrayal and tried to stop him. Salai fought and bloodied his blade with the blood of his own kind, and the blade grew dark, the blood tainting the sword. Rage overtook him, wrath filled his mind and he saw only his target, and the obstacles in between him and Rivith. Suddenly, all went black. Salai opened his eyes, only to find his eyes were already open. He was surrounded by shadows, and wind. The wind tore at his wings and clothes, and his head hurt, as if needles punctured his head. He noticed the ground had forsaken him, and screamed in anger, for he had lost his prize. He blinked all he could to regain his vision, but his eyes did not get accustomed to the darkness. He noticed it was not wind that tore on his body, but if was actually him falling. He lost the grip on his blade, his beloved retribution, and lost consciousness. Chapter Two 'My Little Devil' Salai woke up, surely but slowly, lay still. The surroundings smelled of ashes, and Salai felt he lay on a bed of broken leafs. The air was cold and harsh, and it was silent. It felt horrible; it felt like being alone in the dark with no light to guide you. Salai opened his eyes, and found darkness to surround him. He heard not the sounds of busyness; he heard not the sounds of wings fluttering or soft voices, of the feeling of hands tending to his wounds. He was on the hard floor, smelling of ashes and death. The darkness did not go away, so Salai decided to grasp his way out. He did not know how he got here, what ‘here’ actually was, or what he was doing here. But he did not like it. He did no longer feel the light of comfort on his face, not even a puff of wind. Only nothing. Then a sound, the rustling of leafs and a heartbeat slowly made its way through the area. The heartbeat mixed together with the sound of breathing, and every step Salai took made the rustling of leafs louder. Salai turned around, trying to find the source of this sound, to ask someone where he was, where ‘here’ was, but found only darkness. It then occurred to him that the heartbeat was his, and the breath came from his chest, not someone else’s. It was only the echoes of his body. He felt his way along, and felt something like a tree, hard and scarred. The tree shivered when Salai touched it, and the sound of falling and twitching leafs echoed around. It sent shivers along Salai’s back, too. It felt like days, the time that Salai spent in what he later got to know to be the echo woods. Feeling his way slowly through the trees, he found no exit, no change in the surroundings, and even though Salai would never admit it, he was scared. After those days, after hours of grasping and falling, bloodying his hands on the sharp bark of the trees, after cursing the darkness around him many many times, Salai heard a new sound, a different sound. The sound of footsteps in the distance, instead of echoes of it nearby. Salai looked up, even though it was futile, and listened more to the footsteps. Step, step, step… Sure strides, of a person who knew where he was going and knew what he was doing. Salai kept quiet, waiting for the footsteps to draw nearer. When suddenly, the footsteps stopped and a voice, nearer that Salai had hoped it to be, spoke. ‘What holy blood disturbs the ground of this forest?’ The voice was dark, soft as velvet, and evil. It sent shivers through his spine, and his hands ached to touch the blade he had lost, to feel the blood of this evil run through his hair and hands. ‘Never mind that then, Fallen One. Follow me, Moreth wishes for you to meet him…’ A laugh, a laugh like Salai had never heard before, echoed through the woods. A laugh that ensured pain and torture, that ensured torment beyond the angel’s imagination. Salai did not know why he was here, what he had done to deserve this. His goddess hadn’t saved him. She had forsaken him. For whatever reason, he did not know. Salai believed she had betrayed him. Everyone had. And they would feel the punishment for that. Salai stood up and followed the laugh, a determined look on his face. He would make them regret.